H-ton Garners Computer Science Female Diversity Award

Huntington High School has captured the College Board’s Advanced Placement Computer Science Female Diversity Award. The Blue Devils are among only 237 honorees nationwide. There are more than 20,000 US high schools across the 50 states.

Huntington was recognized for helped to “expand young women’s access to AP Computer Science A.” Faculty member Nicholas Wagner is the teacher for the course. “This is so exciting,” department director Teresa Grossane said.

“Schools receiving the AP Computer Science Female Diversity Award have either reached 50 percent or higher female exam taker representation in one of or both AP computer science courses or a percentage of female computer science exam takers that meets or exceeds that of the school’s female population,” according to the College Board.

Huntington narrowly missed winning a second award for AP Computer Science Principles. “We applaud your school’s good work with expanding access to AP Computer Science Principles to young women and almost earning the AP Computer Science Female Diversity Award for this course as well,” the College Board wrote. “We hope you’ll continue to encourage girls and all underrepresented students to participate in computer science and possibly earn this recognition next year.”

The two computer science courses are outlined in Huntington High School’s curriculum guide. The course descriptions are listed below:

AP Computer Science A is equivalent to a first-semester, college level course in computer science. The course introduces students to computer science with fundamental topics that include problem solving, design strategies and methodologies, organization of data (data structures), approaches to processing data (algorithms), analysis of potential solutions, and the ethical and social implications of computing. The course emphasizes both object-oriented and imperative problem solving and design using Java language. These techniques represent proven approaches for developing solutions that can scale up from small, simple problems to large, complex problems. The AP Computer Science A course curriculum is compatible with many CS1 courses in colleges and universities.

AP Computer Science Principles introduces students to the foundational concepts of computer science and challenges them to explore how computing and technology can impact the world. The topics in this course include the creative aspects of programming, abstractions, algorithms, large data sets, the Internet, cybersecurity concerns, and computing impacts. AP Computer Science Principles also gives students the opportunity to use current technologies to create computational artifacts for both self-expression and problem solving.